Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

In December, 2013 my mum Lidia passed away after being diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND).  For those that are not familiar with this condition it is a terminal illness that affects the body’s motor nerves. These carry signals from our brain to our muscles, MND blocks those signals. Until, eventually in most cases, the person loses the ability to walk, move their arms, speak, eat, drink and breathe. Most sufferers will have many aids to help them with these natural functions that we do without thinking every day. On average they say someone diagnosed with MND may have 2-3 years life expectancy. Sadly my mum only lived for 6 months after her diagnoses.

MND is rare, it affects roughly 2 in every 100,000 people in the UK.  So in January 2018 when my dad, Paul, called and told me he too had been diagnosed with MND… Shock and disbelief doesn’t come close to describing how I and as a family we felt. We’re thankful that Dad is still with us. He will have had the disease for 3 years come January. However his quality of life has significantly deteriorated over this last year. He is unable to walk, he has days where he has difficulty with his speech and with eating. He has carers visiting 5 times a day. And at night time he has a machine to assist him with his breathing. 

Currently there is no cure, this is a terminal illness. The only way we can change that is by bringing awareness to these diseases and raising money to support research into finding cures.  That’s where I and hopefully some of you come in. Next July I’m intending to run 5 consecutive marathons, over 5 days, across Shetland. Starting at Sumburgh Head and finishing at North Roe, with a few detours to the east and west along the way, to make up the 131 miles I’ll be covering. The money I raise will be going to the MND Scotland organisation and charity. They not only support research into finding a cure, but importantly support the families and sufferers on a day to day level. What they do is vital.

I’ve done what all good fundraisers do and set up a Just Giving page. You can also follow some of my training progress and how the fundraising is coming, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Running a marathon is honourable, running 5 is stupidity, but hopefully you will feel it deserving of your support.